Highway to Hell
by Lynxgoddess
Summary: X-over with the game Hellgate: London. As one life ends, Xander begins a new adventure, in a place that makes him wish he still on the Hellmouth. Dark, Slash, Survival, Violence, Language, if its naughty, it'll eventually find its way into this story.
1. And the Gates of Hell Will Open

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Summary: X-over with the game Hellgate: London. Xander finds himself going through the mouth of hell and out its gate. Survival story will become dark; maybe slash later on, violence, language, its all here.

AN: This takes place after Season Two of BtVS and starts at the beginning of the game. I know some things are confusing in the beginning, but the as Xander meets more people in the game, he will find out what happened.

And the Gates of Hell Will Open…

Out of all the ways Xander thought he would die, this wasn't one of them. He'd revived Buffy in the Master's cave, saved Cordy from Dr. Frankendork, protected Buffy from Angelus, and helped prevent at least four apocalypses. Xander had survived hyena and soldier possessions. Fuck, all of his seventeen years had been spent on the mouth of hell! Why was this happening to him?

At the end, we all ask this question. Why us? Why do I have to experience this? Haven't I done good things? Helped people? Why am I here?

Here in this dank and shadowed room. Here with the trash that people were too busy to get rid of. Here lying on my stomach as my blood fled my body in a quickly growing wave. Here as I was abandoned to die alone, my killer not caring enough to be here as I inhaled for the last time.

So this was IT. That final breathe I would take. There was time, but so precious little of time. A moment, a heartbeat, one single breath left in life of Alexander Harris. The final firing of synapses in his brain bought Xander a second of clarity. Though he was dying he wasn't finished yet. That last moment wasn't for the dying; it was for those who lived. The dead don't need it. They know already. Everything they were, everything they are, and everything they might have been. Xander had one thing left in this world, and he gave it away.

"Be safe," Xander whispered in his final exhalation of breath. There was no one to hear him.

If only little child,

If only,

If only souls of the dead were so at rest.

It was hungry. Always hungry. There was never anything but the hunger. All It wanted was to feast, and feast, and feast until the brightness was gone. It tasted so good. Like lightning and bubbles and fizzing fire. They all tasted so good. Especially those that were born for It. The shiny souls that slowly fed Its hunger as they grew. Lately, all Its good snacks were staying away. This would never do. It was hungry. And then, someone made an offering. One of Its children, Hellmouth bred in the boy's blood, bone, and soul. It had been so long. So, It ate the boy-thing. Body, spirit, and flesh; there were no children here.

Had Xander Harris been aware of it, he probably would have been offended by what happened next. After all, what goes in must come out. And this being the freaking Mouth of Hell, it wasn't like the exit sign lead somewhere that was all superheroes and starships. Instead, Xander ended up pretty where he started. In hell. Well, hell on earth, anyway. But he didn't know any of this. He didn't even know he was still alive, much less what was going on in the world left around him.

Ashes, he tasted ashes. Underneath that was the unforgettable tang of sulfur. Xander thought this was a strange way for heaven to be. Everything he'd been told went more along the lines of sunshine, clouds, and Twinkies. On the heels of taste, came feeling. His chest was _burning_! Franticly tearing at his shirt, he didn't notice the bloody garment rip apart; Xander was too occupied with the slowly closing wound on his chest. The vertical slash that had almost eviscerated him, it had killed him, though. Why was it still there? If this was heaven why was he in pain? Although logic wasn't his strong point even Xander could feel awful understanding beginning to creep into his brain. Ashes, sulfur, pain…. All that was missing was…. Glancing around Xander saw just where he was.

The sky was red, rubble and corpses covered the ground. Once magnificent skyscrapers were bodies of hollowed cement, the remnants of civilization lay before his eyes. This was hell. _He was in Hell!_ Xander knew he wasn't a great person, a productive member of society, but he'd fought for the good, damn it. The last two years of his life had gone towards saving the entire freaking planet and here he was in hell. That about figured.

Then Xander heard the noise. A thunderous clank was filling the air. Looking around for the source, he noticed that the previously red light had disappeared. _God this can't be real! _The frantic thought rang through Xander's mind, there was no such thing as demonic, 50 foot, flying squid! It wasn't real. None of this was real. This was just an incredibly scary Twinkie induced hallucination. It was all a dream!

Xander had to face the truth. He had died. And now, he had gone to hell. Hell, where demons ruled and darkness played. Where souls were sundered and ripped to fragments. This was where people stopped being people and started becoming things. To survive, humans had to. And Xander had to decide: was he willing to survive?

Given his current predicament, this wasn't the time for philosophical musings. Now was the time to find someplace to hide. Someplace where Xander would be, relatively anyway, safe, the irony of trying to find a safe place in hell wasn't lost on him. About thirty yards away he saw a staircase that led downwards into an empty building. There might be things in there, but they had to be smaller than the flying thing! Glancing around, Xander stood up and tried to silently make his way towards the stairs.

Dodging the remains of cars and rocks, Xander continued his journey. He determinately kept his eyes way from the dead. Finally reaching his destination, Xander made his way down the stairs. And then his luck kicked him. Pausing, Xander heard the slow shuffle of footsteps against the ground. Low moans and keens emanated from the darkness inside. Waiting for his eyes to adjust, Xander's common sense made a rare appearance. He didn't call out to see who was in the room.

As Xander's eyes began to improve enough to show him what was inside the room, he wished it hadn't. Because, honestly, he could have lived without seeing the thing in front of him, it was a zombie, obviously. The once human features were a give away, and the missing part of the thing's skull where some demon had taken a bite? Dead and still shambling, totally a zombie, Xander thought. But underneath the glib musings he was horrified. The zombie's hands were worn away until all you could see was bloody muscle and bone, what was left of the brain rolled around inside its head.

Just when Xander and decided to get the hell out of there, the zombie noticed his presence. With a grunt it began to run towards Xander. Frantically looking around, he spotted a free piece of rebar on the floor in the room. Looking at the zombie, Xander saw it was moving up the stairs towards him. He jumped toward the ground and grabbed the bar. Clumsily, the zombie turned and went back down the stairs. Xander decided quick movements were the way to go. Darting in, he struck the head and jumped back. Shaking its body, the zombie returned to its pursuit of Xander. What followed was the scariest game of whack-a-mole Xander had ever played.

Finally fed up, Xander growled and charged at the zombie. He raised the rebar like a spear and shoved it into the zombie's eye and out the back of its head. Quickly retreating, Xander grabbed a piece of wood and waited to see if it would rise again. When it didn't he nearly collapsed in relief. Laughing brokenly, Xander realized he answered his question from earlier. He was going to survive.


	2. Hell House

Chapter 2: Hell House

Chapter 2: Hell House

Disclaimer: Most emphatically, NOT MINE!

AN: For anyone who has never heard of Hellgate: London, it is a computer game based on the idea that a demon world has merged and taken over the human one. There are groups of resistance fighters that you encounter during the game. I don't know if I'm going to stick to Hellgate missions or not yet. Anything else, like characters, places, abilities, I will explain more as Xander begins to find out.

AN2: I know nothing about the geography in London beyond what is shown in the game. So please forgive my errors, I've never been to or seen maps of the city.

The small frisson of happiness Xander felt at killing the zombie had faded. Although he was still determined to survive, he had to take stock of his situation.

Was he alive or dead? Xander remembered dying. Remembered his drunken father finally finishing what he'd threatened to do so many times before. Even after all Xander had been through, he hadn't believed his own father would kill him. But Tony Harris did. He came into the basement and without so much as an insult Daddy Dearest had plunged a knife between his second and third rib and proceeded to let his only child bleed to death on the dirty floor. The feeling of helpless and filth wouldn't soon fade for Xander. Thinking back, Xander decided he wasn't dead, 'cause he was pretty lively for a corpse. Plus having a heartbeat and feeling pain ruled out reanimation and vamphood. So, Xander decided to consider himself miraculously, or demonically, healed.

Which brought up the fact that he was alone, half-naked, and stranded in unknown territory, add to that the demons that were roaming around and Xander was pretty much screwed. Deciding that thinking about the big picture was causing a near melt down to happen in his brain, Xander was concentrating on more immediate goals. He decided to scout out the building he was in. If there were more of these things, he didn't want to share a house with them.

Glancing around the room, Xander guessed it was a basement; he saw a box in the corner. When he looked inside Xander found a weird type of vest. It appeared to be made of panels of metal that were stitched inside pockets of the material. There were hooks on the side that indicated how it was taken on and off. The material itself was black and had a nylon feel to it. Obviously, it was made to not rip with the weight of the metal. Xander wondered what type of people had lived in this house to have armor lying around in the basement.

With this piece of good fortune, Xander hadn't decided if being alive was good or not yet, he drew the armor over his head and buckled it on the side. Moving around he felt the fabric grab on his healing wound and the metal sometimes pinched at his skin, but it was better than going around without anything on. Finding something to wear underneath this would make it more comfortable and keep his wound from tearing open. But before any of that, he had to search the other floors of the house.

Standing, Xander pivoted to view the basement on more time. The zombie still lay were it had fallen earlier. He refused to think about person that thing had been, now just rotting muscle and sagging skin. God, please don't let me end up like that poor bastard, Xander thought. After procrastinating long enough, he made his way to the stair case he'd jumped from earlier. Quietly, Xander placed one foot the steps and began to climb. As he walked, Xander trained his eyes on the parts of the room he that could be seen.

The room was in surprisingly good condition. During is sprint to the basement, he hadn't taken the time to survey the rest of the house. This had been a living room at one time. There was no blood or bodies, just a ripped and torn sofa that was pushed against a door. The doorway he'd come in had been torn, or blown, open. Keeping his back to the wall, Xander listened. He heard the faint sound of wind crawling through the house and the distant clank of the flying demons. Nothing from inside, not that it particularly reassured him. Besides the barricaded door, there was an archway that led into the rest of the house.

The door or the archway first, Xander deliberated. For whatever reason someone blocked that door, it hasn't gotten out, or in, yet. Let's deal with the rest of the house before asking for more trouble. Nodding to no one, Xander moved towards the archway. One foot in front of the other, he crept forward.

Reaching the archway, he pressed his back to the wall. Quickly, Xander stuck his head around the arch to scout ahead. It was a hallway that stretched about twelve feet, opening into a kitchen area. Xander proceed forward into the kitchen, glancing in both directions before emerging from the hallway. There was not much left in either room, just the ruins of a former family home. He could see another staircase leading up and a door. Moving towards the door, he paused to listen before opening it, a bathroom. The faint smell of blood and the odor of bodily excretions showed that there hadn't been running water for quite a while. Xander avoided looking into the cracked and broken mirror; he didn't need any reminders of himself at the moment.

Exiting the bathroom, he moved to the staircase. Up the stairs Xander went. He was confronted by an L-shaped hallway. There were two doors down one branch straight ahead and three down the right. He walked forward to the furthest door. Opening it, Xander found a bedroom. There was no bed, only a pile of rags and paper; a few scattered boxes completed the room. Xander decided to finish clearing the rest before looking for goods. The next door held a similar set up, rags and boxes.

Returning to the stairs, Xander started down the last hallway. Door number one was another bathroom, in slightly better condition than the downstairs. Door two was a closet. Looking at the final door, he took a deep breath and entered.

All over the place there were clippings from newspapers and handwritten notes. Each one proclaimed a variation of the same theme: The World is Ending, Demons Walk the Earth, and Hellgates Open. Xander was stunned. Was it possible that he wasn't in hell, but on Earth? Before he could investigate, something caught his attention.

'Thump'.

'Thump'.

The distant sound reached Xander's ears. Fear paralyzed him. He couldn't decided what to do, as he panicked. When he didn't hear the sound a third time, Xander exhaled loudly. Slowly he turned towards the open door. As much as he wanted to deny what the noise, he couldn't. Not if he wanted to take the chance that there was something inside that would kill him. So, he went forward. The sound had originated from downstairs, he was certain. It was too low to have been on the same floor, plus it would have eaten him as he'd become less vigilant on the second floor. Now, down the rabbit hole I go.

Xander stood at the head of the stairs. He didn't want to do this. Never before had he felt so alone. No friends, no slayers, no weapons, all he had was his will to survive. It had to be enough. He wouldn't die here. The descent was brutal. Every step he took sounded like an explosion, every breathe like a hurricane. Finally, he reached the bottom.

Nothing in the kitchen, instead of relieving some of the tension, it only escalated. As he moved towards the shadowed hallway, Xander fell.

Bang!

Heart beating a fast tattoo, Xander jumped up and looked around to see if anything would attack him. Nothing. Then, he looked at the floor were he tripped. What he saw almost made him smile: a rusty, chipped kitchen knife. It was one of the cheap ones that you by at Walmart it a ten pack, basically a sharp butter knife, but to Xander it was like someone had set a Twinkie in front of him. Snatching it up, he began once again to walk.

As he reached the end of the hallway, Xander peered into the living room. Nothing was different. There was nothing moving around. Beginning to breathe normally, he went to check the stairs to the basement. Focusing his eyes forward, he looked at the couch. Something seemed off, different. It was still worn down, more wood than cushion, but it bothered him.

'Thump.'

Nearly falling backwards Xander cursed. That fucking door! Something was the door the sofa stood against. And it wanted out. Now he knew what was wrong. The sofa had fucking moved. Whatever was behind it was getting out. Xander had very few options. Although the beating had stopped, he knew there was something there. He couldn't leave it, the sofa would only stop it for so long. If he tried to find somewhere else to hide, there might be worse things waiting for him. So, he had to kill it, without knowing what it was or how to hurt it. No problem.

Xander decided to wait for the thing to get out. As it moved into the room, he would ambush it. Slowly Xander took a position met to the door, pressed into the wall. Just as he was about to move into a crouch, with a final bang door opened and the sofa fell apart. However, nothing came out. There was only silence as Xander waited in fear.

Suddenly he felt a tug on his ankle as he landed on his back and was dragged into the room. Not able to see his surrounding, he concentrated on what had grabbed him. It looked like a mutated lizard. It was red with horns and spikes all over its body. The things razor teeth were clenched around Xander's ankle as it dragged him forward. The thing was the size of a large dog and its eyes glimmered at him in the dark. There was an alien hunger in those eyes, for flesh, for meat, for Xander.

Pulling his free leg back, Xander let a hard kick loose at the beast's head. Crying out it let go. Scrambling backward, Xander darted towards his dropped knife. As he grabbed it, the beast pounced on his back, sinking fangs into his shoulder. Xander screamed and shoved his knife at the things face. The glancing strike cut its face and made it let go. Twirling to face it, Xander kept his hand with the knife forwards and tried to protect his wounded shoulder. It darted forward to scratch at Xander's chest, but the armor deflected most of the strike. The thing was fast, almost too fast for him. There was no way he'd be able to get to it to damage it and get out without it killing him. So, the thing had to come to him.

Thinking, Xander feigned to the left. The lizard lunged forward, as Xander pushed himself to fall on the floor. Then, it was on him. As it moved in to rip out his throat, Xander shoved the knife into its stomach and dragged up. Warm liquid washed over his chest as the thing died. Pushing, Xander was able to roll the dead thing off him. Standing up, he was finally able to look around. Running out the room, Xander started throwing up in the remains of sofa. Whatever bad things he thought he'd seen were nothing images that were permanently lodged inside his brain. He hadn't know the meaning of the word meat before now. Meat was inside that room. It was that woman who had been eviscerated and insides eaten until you could see that her spine had teeth marks on it. It was the strips of skins that were littered around the room like birthday wrappings. It was face of a tiny child that was missing her tiny child arms and legs.

This was the world now. All horrors and shade and meat, he lived here. Xander would live here because he had no choice. And because he was going to kill them, it may not be heaven but this world had given him anger and hatred. Anger enough to kill all the demons that thought they could do this to humans, to children. All would pay for this. Xander would see to it.


	3. Hell Forged

Chapter 3: Hell Forged

Chapter 3: Hell Forged

Disclaimer: I didn't do it!

In the two weeks Xander had come to this world, things had changed. He had changed. It was impossible not to. There's nothing like walking through fire or dimensional portals to hell, for self-development. The old Xander might have joked about writing a self-help book, _One Hundred Painful, Bloody Ways to Discover a New You!_, but that wasn't him anymore. Thanks to the house's previous owner's meticulous documentation of the apocalypse, Xander now knew where he was. Or, more correctly, when he was. Although, he still couldn't figure out how he'd landed almost 30 years in the future in London, of all places.

Around 2025 what people called Hellgates began to open all over the world. These portals allowed demons and darkness to enter the world. It wasn't long before the various militaries of the world had bombed and nuked the hell out of the locations where the 'gates had opened. This did nothing to stop the flow of demons. They kept coming, not the least dissuaded by climbing over the bodies of their comrades. Every demon wanted into this new world, a new vista of mayhem and slaughter with plenty of prey. Nothing the government tried was working. Erecting barricades to keep the demons in a specific area didn't work for long. Humans were swept aside by their numbers.

The few who had known about the supernatural before this were killed in the opening skirmishes. Relying the magic of old, they attempted to seal the 'gates as they began to open. But it had no effect on the demons that come through. The physically enhanced fighters lasted longer but they fell under the powerful foes.

Xander had come to determine that the demons he encountered where completely different from any he'd known before. The majority showed at least human level intelligence, they had attack patterns and battle plans, and it was not uncommon for different demon types to work together under the command of several leaders. Higher level demons that had vaguely humanoid features, like hands and legs, carried projectile weaponry until anything on earth. There were spirit creatures that fed on magical energy and life force instead of flesh; often incorporeal they could only be forms of energy, magical or electrical. The undead, bodies of former humans reanimated by either sorcerers or the energy of the Hellgates, were more easily dispatched. Lizard creatures, similar to the one Xander killed on his first night were the animals. They were driven by hunger and attacked in packs.

Realizing that he was sorely unequipped to fight this battle, Xander had taken to looting the nearby homes and buildings. This had yielded several guns, five knives, a few cases of ammo, and one axe. The guns and knives were human make, but the axe was different. From the second Xander had seen it, he knew it wasn't from this world.

_Although he'd found a few knives and guns, Xander knew it wasn't enough. Guns would eventually run out of ammo. Knives were close range weapons. The demons he'd encountered could easily over power him in brute strength at arm's length. Plus he had little experience with them. So, here he was looking for something else he could use. The weird humming in his bones was his first clue that something was going on. His time here had enhanced his senses; he could always feel the demons that were close by. This felt different, yet not. _

_Exiting the decaying supermarket he was searching, Xander moved slowly towards the area the humming was coming from. There was no movement, not that it meant much here. Drawing one of his knives, he approached a pile of rubble to his left. Still no movement. Xander circled the rocks until he was staring at the corpse of a demon. They never rotted, whatever killed them, however they fell, they remained that way. He didn't know why. Why was the body of a demon humming at him?_

_The glimmer was what caught his attention. Not much shined in post-Armageddon London. Mostly because there was no sun, just a forever red twilight, the center of our universe of slowly being devoured by the darkness the demons brought with them. So, no shininess here. Looking more closely, Xander saw an axe. It was double-headed with a slim axe blade on one side and a wicked curved pick on the other. At first, he thought the light from the sky had turned the weapon red, but the metal truly was a gleaming red. Symbols trailed from the head of the axe to the dense handle. Hesitating, Xander debated on picking it up. On one hand, a demon weapon from another dimension, on the other, a deadly weapon to kick demon ass with. Choices, choices everywhere, nor any a Giles to ask. Gathering his remaining bits of stupidity and bravery, Xander sheathed his knife and grabbed the handle. Big uh-oh._

_It hurt. It really fucking hurt. And he couldn't let go. His teeth were chattering from the energy this bitch was giving off. Finally the pain and shaking receded, leaving a new awareness in its wake. An awareness of the weapon on that he had dropped on the ground. It wasn't sentient, per se, but it had a purpose, to kill. That was all it knew how to do. And it wanted to do its job. So it had searched for something, someone that would allow it to do its job. And that someone was Xander. It said something about him that Xander had enough darkness to wield a demon blade. Together they had a purpose, to rid the world of the demon plague and kill all who stood in their path._

_It was a match made in… well, you know the rest._

Since then, Xander had hunted. Slowly, he had eradicated all the demons for two miles in every direction from his home base. And that was a lot of demons. The more he killed, the easier it was to use the axe. At first, it had been awkward and heavy, but he had gotten better. Xander thought it was all the practice, but one day he had learned that wasn't all it was.

_During his 'down time', when not hunting or scourging for food/essentials or practicing with his weapons, Xander read. He had found an occult shop in the area and raided the books. Despite his searching, he couldn't identify the writing on the blade. The selection wasn't that great, but Xander had picked up a few useful tricks that worked with the magics the demons brought with them, like how to use the shadows and demon sight. The shadows absorbed the sounds of his footsteps, breathing, and heartbeat. He didn't travel in him, but they hid his humanity from the demons he hunted. Demon sight made all the demons in his line of vision glow, whether they were hidden or not. But he could find nothing about his axe._

_Then one day, while he was cleaning the axe, Xander noticed he could read some of the writing. The first few lines of symbols were now legible. 'For one Purpose were we made, By blood we become one…' The rest was still squibbles. He was changing with the axe. As it had pledged itself to his cause, Xander was becoming better equipped to wield it. Nothing too extreme, it was just like having a natural gift or understanding of it. Xander had gleamed one final piece of information from the axe. Its name: Mortifera._

_Mortifera_ had given him an edge, but it was difficult. Not to fight, that was natural, but to have nothing to go home to. The only things in this time he were himself and his axe. And Fera's conversation skills were limited. Xander thought he would have a hard time adjusting to this place. He did miss his friend and Giles, but there was something about it. There was something about this 'gated world that eased his way into the hunter lifestyle. Almost a week had gone by before he'd recognized it. It felt like home, the stench of death and despair with the vague aura damnation. Hellmouth born and bred, Xander was more sensitive to the feeling of the 'gates. In this new world, Xander was perversely comforted by that. Just goes to show how a few weeks of solitude in hell with fuck a person up.

Another week had gone by as Xander continued to expand his perimeter. He had now set up several mini bolt holes that he could stay in instead of retreating all the way to his main base everyday. Xander didn't have a watch, nor did the sun rise or set, so he marked the passage of time by flying squid. They passed overhead, by his estimation, once every three days. It was as good an approximation as any. His little holes contained a few days' rations, replacement weapons, and what first aid items he could find. Occasionally Xander would return to places he'd already cleared to make sure no new demons had set up shop.

It was during this week that Xander began to see signs of newly killed demons. You couldn't tell by the corpses but there were not bite marks from the lizard demons. Also, the fresh damage to surrounding areas was more consistent to human weapons. Xander followed the trail until in went too far into unexplored territory. He didn't feel comfortable walking into an unknown without more firepower, with he was sadly lacking at the moment.

For the next few days, Xander hung around the sights of the battles in hopes whatever had done it would come back. No one returned. He had to go back to his base to restock. Xander was running out of food. _One more day_, Xander promised. And his typical luck was with him: there were humans. And they were being attacked by a massive demon force.


	4. The Battle of Hell's Deep

Chapter 4: The Battle of Hell's Deep

Chapter 4: The Battle of Hell's Deep

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Normally Xander wasn't one for proper grammar or vocabulary. However in this instance, the word massive, meaning extremely large in amount, degree, or scope, applied. In the last few weeks Xander had killed more monsters himself than Buffy had slayed in two years on the Hellmouth. Luckily, most of them were alone or in groups of two to five. The largest group he had taken out was eleven demons strong with a humanoid demon at the helm. It had taken his hours to plan an attack that gave him a chance at survival; the venture had still nearly killed him. As it was, he'd limped away with several strained muscles, bruised ribs, cuts, and one brand new scar that trailed from the middle of his left check to his chest. The group that was currently encroaching on the humans was more than three times what he'd gone against before.

The humans were taking positions behind rocks and cars to minimize their chances of being hit. Some were sporting guns and knives; others had complicated bits of technology strapped to their arms. There were six of them. Spreading out the two women took stations at the sides of street, crouching behind rocks, and leveling their firearms at the approaching demons. One of the tech men was bent over a small machine, rapidly aligning and inserting pieces. The last trio of men was discussing something, gesturing with the others. Nodding, two of men moved forward and bent their bodies into battle stances together. There was an area where several cars and rocks had piled on the sides of the road, making the only way through narrow walkways that the women were covering and a fifteen foot path in the center. This is where the two men planted themselves. The last man was running from spot to spot, briefly squatting to place something on the ground before moving on.

Lizard demons made up almost a third of the enemy group. There were four spirit wraiths behind them. Seven zombies swarmed around their Summoner to protect him from harm. Blue imp demons were carrying double knives; Xander counted five in front and three hanging in the back. The worst was at the end of the train: the leaders. Three humanoid demons carrying shock guns that spat out balls of electricity.

Xander could see that the humans were trying to do. Control the flow of the demons' movements so they could kill more of them before becoming overwhelmed. And, they were going to be overrun. He didn't doubt that. Even if Xander interfered, they would all, including him, probably die here. So, how was he going to take the most demons with him? He was going to help. There were demons to kill. Mortifera almost purred in agreement.

As much as Xander wanted to just swoop in and start hacking away, he did have some self-preservation instincts. One of the most immediate challenges was the lizards. They would have no problems leaping over the barricade. He didn't have much time, so whatever he decided to do, Xander had to get to it. Remembering the canister of gas he'd found a few days ago, he ran towards the place he'd hidden it. Thankfully, it was close by, because Xander hadn't wanted to store it near his bolt hole. Once it was in his hand, he ran back to the scene of the battle. Invoking his shadow spell, Xander climbed to the top of a nearby building. Using the rooftops, he crept closer to the car barricade the humans were hiding behind. When he had finally gone a little past it, Xander shimmed down the side of the building and hurried walked towards the barricade.

The demons were forty feet away. Although the spell helped hide his sounds and sent, it didn't work when he was directly in the line of sight. Xander began to pour gas on the front of the barricade and on the ground. The demons were thirty feet away. Running, he finished trailing the gas from one side of the street to the other. The demons were twenty feet away and some were raising their weapons to fire at him. He flicked a lighter he'd found open, dropped it, and ran for the building. Flames spread across the ground as he returned to his previous post atop the roof. The demons were ten feet away. One of the women had turned her gun towards him, but she didn't fire as he returned from his plan, saving her ammunition for the demons. The demons in front were on fire.

Besides Mortifera, Xander had two handguns with two clips each, one rifle with twelve rounds, and four knives. He drew his guns from their holsters and took aim. Inhale, wait for it. Then, gun blasts resounded from the women, dropping demons in their tracks. More and more bullets were released as the ground began to fill with blood. Still Xander remained motionless on the roof. Exhale, wait for it. Demons were converging on the two men in the middle now. Drawing their own weapons, one had a sword and the other a type of spear with a long blade at the end. Inhale, now.

'Bang'.

'Bang'.

A lizard demon that had sprung over the flames was now screeching as it died, bullets dropping it to the ground. He had twelve bullets left. Soon, two more reds joined their comrade, fuel for the fire, nine bullets left. The humans began to retreat, as the demons pushed their way forward. Aiming, two zombies fell, brains adding to the mix to the street beneath. Five bullets left. Seeing two of its minions dead, the Summoner recreated three smaller zombies from their remains. Moving down to the floor beneath him, Xander turned his guns on the Summoner. The first shot ripped the bone mask off the raiser's face, showing decaying skin and empty eye sockets. Minions jumped in front of the next two shots, trying to protect their master. Two more bullets found their way to the Summoner's chest, staggering but not dropping it.

Sighing, Xander put away one of the handguns, grabbed a clip for the other and slid it home. He had seven bullets. Three landed in the zombie throng. The next two collapsed the Summoner's face. As their master hit the ground, the remaining zombies rushed into the building he was inside. Two shots, two zombies down. Three to go, Xander thought as he threw one knife at the approaching zombies. Two left, he returned the empty gun to its place and grabbed Mortifera from its sheath on his back.

Running clumsily at him, Xander ducked and brought the axe down on the exposed back of one of the zombies. The flesh under the blade parted eagerly for him, splitting the thing in half. Quickly resuming a guard position, Xander lopped off the arms of the last zombie and kicked at its feet. As it fell to the ground, he swung the blade at the demon's neck and removed the head. Turning to run from the house, Xander felt the ground shake as a blast rocked the area.

While Xander had been engaged in battle with the zombies, the other humans had been busy with the rest of the demon horde. Bullets had killed off most of the red beasts, courtesy of the women. The men had taken care of all eight of the blue demons. As for the spirit wraiths, the machine from earlier was flying around shooting electricity at them until they died. Droning about in the air, it went after the final two spirits. The shaking he'd felt earlier was from the bombs that the final man had planted.

Now, all they had to do was kill the humanoid demons. Most of his heavy fire power was out, the fire had burned out and one of the men was lying still on the street. The battle had moved almost 30 yards from where it started, with the humans retreating and the demons chasing. This meant that the remaining demons were between him and the rest of the humans. One man was dead, one woman was being completely supported by the other, and all of them were bloody and tired.

There was no time for rest. Now it time to fight. The lesser foes had been killed, but the most deadly and intelligent were left. Laying her ally against the building and putting a gun in her lap, the woman and the three remaining men gathered their weapons and took battle stances. A tableau began to form as one man with a spear, the woman with a handgun in one hand and a small sword in the other, and the final two men with guns. The three demons brought their shock guns up to a fire position. It seemed like an eternity had passed before the first shot rang out.

Within seconds bullets and electricity were flying through the air as both parties tried to decimate the others. There was no plan now; it was sheer desperation the human's were running on. Slowly, the demons moved forward, not greatly affected by the weapons fire. Breaking off their attack, one man tossed a grenade at the demons. Instead of going 'boom', the grenade spit a misty vapor that clung to demons and blinded them. Again, they began to fire at the demons. Xander saw one demon wander away from the other two towards the injured woman and seized his chance.

The shotgun strapped to his back was pulled forward as Xander fired straight into the demon's back, spinning it around. When he saw the fucker's ugly face he pumped another round straight at its head. Before Xander could reload and begin firing again, the demon grabbed the gun and ripped it from his hands. Backing up, Mortifera again made its way to his hands. Trying to keep his breathing even, he waited for the demon to attack.

And it did. With a roar, it threw itself at Xander. Or where Xander had been, apparently he'd upset the thing by blowing away part of its face. Now, it was blinded by rage and wanted to tear him apart. A real improvement, Xander thought. Duck. Roll. Return to feet. Swing. He and the demon began a dance that was older than the world itself, afight for rage, for victory, for survival. Mortifera and he were growing closer with every hit. Every drop of demon blood on the blade resounded in his soul. This was it: their Purpose. Now was their time, their element.

Panting, Xander and the demon sprang apart for the moment. Looking at the bigger, stronger, faster being, he should have been afraid for his life. But he wasn't. As he stared into the demon's eyes, Xander realized he was going to win. Not because he was a better fighter, had more experience, possessed magical powers, or had an awesomely powerful magical weapon. He was going to win because he had a brain, a plan, and allies.

'Bang'.

One shot, one kill. The demon fell to the ground, part of its head missing as the woman behind it lowered her gun to her lap. Stretching his lips into what passed as smile in these parts, Xander nodded at her. Waiting until she returned his gesture, he looked around to see how the others were fairing. There were finishing off the final demon as he watched. Without facing the woman again, for the first time in almost a month, Xander spoke to another human being.

"Now this is what I call a party."


	5. Sometimes Even Hell Can Be Home

Chapter 6: Sometimes Even Hell Can Be Home

Chapter 5: Sometimes Even Hell Can Be Home

Disclaimer: It belongs to someone/some peoples that aren't me.

AN: Sorry guys that it took me so long to get to this chapter. I realized that my characters had gotten away from me and had to redo it several times. Thanks go out to Illyria13, my collaborator, for finishing one of her stories and making me feel bad for leaving mine hanging. Another thanks to Hurricane Gustav for trapping in my own home with no power or anything to do but write.

Xander didn't know what he'd been expecting. These were humans. Before any of this, he'd been wondering if he was the last one left alive. It was a frightening concept; to think that you were the only one of your kind left in existence. But now here he was, face to face with actual human beings, and he didn't know what to say.

"I didn't think it was possible for a human to survive alone out here." The three men and standing woman made their ways over. The comment had come from the flail-wielding man.

"Perhaps a human can't, but I'm a fighter. I have a mission, and I won't, can't lay down 'til it's finished." Xander looked directly at the man as he spoke.

Nodding the man pointed to himself. "Gareth." Next, the blonde woman on the ground was "Yvonne." The two gunmen, who Xander could now see were twins, "Nix and Pollux". Finally, getting tired of waiting the red head introduced herself: "Ann Marie," she blurted out.

Seeing the strange looks her crew was giving her, Ann Marie quickly told them, "He saved my life." Returning her gaze to Xander's face, she traced the still-healing laceration from his cheek to where it disappeared under his armor. The hits he had taken in the fight were beginning to show up: bruises on his face, cuts bleeding freely. What struck her harshly was his age, he couldn't have been older than Yvonne, who had just 'celebrated' her twentieth birthday. There was blood and organ matter in his hair and on his body. Not many survived the demon, fewer children made it through, and no one lived by themselves. It was suicide; so question remained: who was this strange boy who had saved her life and that of her team? What would he want in return? How much of their blood would it take to make the scales even?

Xander wasn't thinking about payment or debts. He might not have been thinking at all. Shock was setting in. There were people. People were here. Real, not loneliness induced hallucinations. Those hallucinations were constantly trying to get him to end his existence, but he was onto their game. Focus, Xander murmured in his head. Smile and introduce yourself to the incredibly well armed and dangerous humans.

"Xander… is me." Apparently surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland didn't do a thing to up his coolness factor.

"Well, it's probably a good thing he can fight, because he doesn't got much else going for him." One of the twins said to the other.

Glaring in their direction as Xander shifted into a more battle ready position, Gareth broke in. "Not that we are not grateful for your help, Xander, however in these times you can not be too careful of things that appear human."

He hadn't been expecting puppy dogs and candy canes, but a little consideration would be nice. All of a sudden, just as much as Xander had wanted to see them in the first place, he now wished them gone. Mortifera fluctuated in agreement. Trying to calm his emotions, Xander spoke. "With that flattering assessment of my heritage, I will be leaving you here alone. Watch out for stragglers, they like to jump out at you when you think you're safe."

"Stop, my brother didn't mean it like that." The other twin pleaded to Xander's turned back.

"Nix has always been quick with his words. The only reason he's still alive is because his spear is faster." Pollux tried to explain his twin's words.

Xander's face was cold has he pivoted to face the man. Brown eyes looked into brown. There was no spark; he didn't loose himself in those eyes. All he saw was a tired, apologetic warrior. Xander could understand that. "We need to go. Together or separate, your place or mine, scavengers will be here to feast soon enough."

There was little anyone could say to contradict him. Exchanging a series of eye flicks and body movements, Xander could to see that they were having a silent conversation. After a few minutes, a decision had been reached. Yvonne, the only member of the group to have remained silent, drew her gaze slowly to Xander's eyes. Have you ever looked in a mirror and been surprised by what you saw there? Maybe Xander should have felt like that. Nothing moved behind Yvonne's blue irises. No warmth or humor, no compassion or kindness, it should have scared. Instead, he smiled. If Buffy had that kind of eyes, he thought, do you think she'd be dead now? Faintly, his soul seemed to ache at the idea of Buffy's death, and Xander could see how Yvonne reminded him of her. Both were short, blond, and deadly. But Xander didn't need a princess anymore. He'd only get her dirty.

Weak laughter trickled from behind chapped lips. Without a word, Xander pivoted and walked away. They could follow him, or not, their choice. A month and a day, a hundred years, and an eternity had gone by since he'd arrived in this world. He'd found the existence of other human life he'd been looking for. The group were not his friends, might never be his friends, and Xander realized that it didn't matter to him. Not like it should have. They all had the same future anyway. Death was all there was.

Gareth and Nix knelt to help Ann Marie up. Yvonne and Pollux brought their weapons up to guard their party. As Xander followed the line of the buildings away from them, they began to march. Ten feet, then thirty, a hundred, fixed on that sight in the distance: their future, their home. A journey that should have taken 25 minutes was drawn out to an hour with their wounded. Slowly, the group came to stop outside the camp.

It had been an old maintenance tunnel that the city stored tools in. Now, it was a place for humans to hide in. To store food and ammunitions, they could sleep here, rest for awhile. Only for awhile, these never lasted long. Eventually, the demons would find it and force them to run. Currently, it was all they had. A figure moved from the entrance, well armed and dangerous.

"Oh look honey," Xander murmured to his axe, "we've got company for dinner."


	6. Hell, of the Family Variety

Chapter 6: And Then There's the Type of Hell Only Family Can Inflict

Chapter 6: And Then There's the Type of Hell Only Family Can Inflict

Disclaimer: Who owns BtVS or Hellgate? Not I, said Mezek.

AN: Thanks again to Illyria13, friend and slave driver. Well, things are looking interesting now, aren't they?

AN2: I know how annoying it is to have an author ask for reviews, but I would be overjoyed if you could at least give me one per chapter even if it's just one word. Thanks to AuraBlackWolf for your reviews!

Living with Xander was strange. He was strange. The way he talked, moved, fought, killed, and loved was strange. He was just really fucking weird. But, it worked for him and them. Everything about Xander was different from what they were used to.

In all the communities they'd lived in before, people didn't care. No one cared if you lived or died. Humans didn't stick their necks out for each other. It was more likely that your fellow human would sell you to the demons to save their own skin or for a decent meal. The worst happened to the weak: the children and non-fighters. Those that couldn't take care of themselves had to either rely on stronger people for protection or get used to being anybodies meat. That kind of protection didn't come cheap. Women used to be considered weak, but in this day and age, they were just as vicious and bloodthirsty as men. You could never tell if she was a mage or fighter until you tried to force the issue, and then, if you were lucky, she would turn to ash or slit your throat. If not, the woman in question might take your armor and weapons, hurt you enough to get your blood flowing, and leave you tied up outside for the demons to find.

Over the years, as they traveled through the different communities, Yvonne, Gareth, Ann Marie, Nix and Pollux had found each other. Gareth was the oldest of their group; he'd lost his wife and children in the first wave of demons. The military had paid for his mechanical engineering degree that came in when building bombs or machinery to fight. Ann Marie was a magic user; she had special skills in warding. At almost 5'7, the amount of heavy artillery carried by her was impressive; if you wanted to pull a pin and cause some kind of chaos and destruction, she was your girl. Nix was arrogant but deadly with spear or javelin; he shared a bed with Ann Marie. He and his twin brother, Pollux, were of Greek descent. Pollux was better with a sword than Nix; he was also older. They'd been raised to adhere to an honor code among warriors. Yvonne, who had reminded Xander of Buffy at their first meeting, was a stealth fighter. She excelled at potions, poisons, and daggers. Her entire family had been killed during the Invasion. Somehow these five created a clan, looked out for each other.

Then there was Xander: weird, strange Xander who asked them to violate the rules that every human learned if they wanted to survive. He demanded they try to confront the demons in their nests, kill all those that could be found. For some reason, it seemed to work; the things didn't know what it meant to be hunted. Perhaps the craziest thing of all was when they ran across a semi-intelligent demon. It recognized Xander, feared him, just a little. Vengeance burned in his soul. And the monsters knew it.

Xander would spend hours practicing his minor magic abilities and working with his creepy axe. None of them had ever been allowed to touch it. Sometimes, when he reached for it, the bitch actually quivered in anticipation. There were times when you could catch him sitting and staring at the blood-red metal and black squiggles. Nix had finally asked it about one day.

"What the fuck is it with you and that fucking axe?" Just because he was a fighter didn't mean he had to like this was ancient Rome. He'd leave that overly dramatic shit to his twin.

Xander dragged his eyes away from the blade to contemplate Nix. Gareth, who had been working on a new modified gun for them to use, stopped to listen. The two girls let their conversation die out. Pollux took a step closer to his brother, as if to protect him. After a moment of reflection, Xander spoke. "What?"

Snorting, Nix continued. "You always use it. Even when you could use a gun, you use that fucking thing. You stare at it, talk to it, like it can understand you."

In the back of his mind, Nix couldn't help but feel like maybe it really did understand Xander. He'd seen it cut through demons that should have been protected from anything short of cannon fire. And, its owner wielded the axe like he'd been born with it in his hand.

It pissed Xander off that Nix didn't give his blade the respect she deserved. "Mortifera."

"What?" This came from Ann Marie in the corner with Yvonne.

Glaring at Nix, Xander corrected the other man. "Her name is Mortifera."

"What the hell?! You actually named the thing?"

Jumping from the floor, Xander twirled Fera in a circle. He stood tall and adjusted his stance so the meager light gleamed off the axe's handle. "This is not an it. She is a weapon. A shard of my fractured soul, created by pain and tempered with rage. She is the twin of my sorrow, the manifestation of my will. You would do well to heed the warning of her name, Mortifera. Deadly things."

Pollux frowned as he contemplated Xander's words. While he didn't agree with the way his brother said it, he didn't understand what Xander meant about the axe. "I'm not sure I know what you are saying."

Sighing, Xander's anger cooled. "You can't. All of you consider your weapons to be tools. Useful tools that keep you alive, but you don't realize what it means to wield a true weapon."

"Mortifera and I are connected. Through her particular brand of grace, I bring death. I shape the world around me. Mortifera has the action and I the will. Together we bring our adversaries to their knees. We sing a lullaby of blood and domination. With every battle we become one. A single force that can pull stars from the sky and raze cities to the ground."

No one dared move in the stillness that followed that. What could you say to a man that thought he could speak to his weapon? Equal parts shock and fear ran through the others. How could they have gone with someone who was so unhinged? But underneath all the denial, some part of the quintet was desperately clinging to the notion Xander presented.

Seeing as how they hadn't yet tried to kill him for being crazy Xander decided to press on. "For one Purpose we were made, By Blood we become One, One Flame against the Void, One Voice against the Silence, One Sinner against Damnation. The strong cower before Us, For We are their Ending, Death bloody and absolute. Know Our rage, Know Our call, Know that We can never be killed and never be stopped, For We are Always."

Some of the fire in Xander's eyes and voice retreated, taking the aura of Otherness with it. He stood before them, just a human, just a man, just like them. "You do not live here. You do not laugh or cry, only fear. You do not survive. You wait to be picked off like the cattle you are. You lack focus or conviction. Little toys that are fun to play with before the demons crush you beneath their hooves. Nothing you do turns the tables on them. You squabble amongst yourselves and kill each other for petty reason, while they mock you from afar. Why should the monsters bother trying to wipe you out when you will do it for them? Stand, I say. Stand and fight. Put the fear back into the demons. Show them that you will face them. Show them you will triumph. Show them that no matter how hard they try, they can not kill us. Now's the time to make a choice: are you ready to be strong?"

Xander slowly moved before each person, looking into their eyes, before returning to his previous position. "Stand and fight. Not for your dead, but for the living! What say you?"


	7. What the Hell? Make Up Your Damn Mind!

Chapter 7: What the Hell? Make Up Your Damn Mind!

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

AN: I can't say how sorry I am for the lack of updates, but I hope this chapter makes up for it.

There was silence. And stillness. Well, hearts were beating and lungs breathing, but no one was saying anything. Xander wanted them to save the fucking world. What kind of reply can you give to that?

"You are in-fucking-sane." Thank you, Ann Marie, for making things so much better, thought Gareth. Those calmly uttered words did little to break the tension in the room. All of them were wondering the same thing: am I crazy to? Were they insane for wanting to believe? Believe in Xander, in something? Maybe they were. They knew what the world was like. Why should they bother to save what didn't exist anymore?

Yvonne was the one to step forward and express the thoughts that they shared. "I have bled in this world. I killed in this world. I have suffered, cursed, screamed in this world. I have seen my family butchered for sport. I have seen children run into the arms of demons to escape the cruelty of humans. I have seen comrades fall and demons laugh. But I have never seen salvation here."

Pausing, she stood up from her seat in the corner and moved towards Xander. Halting only when she was directly in front of him, Yvonne's words spread out between them as her blue eyes gazed into his own brown, she was the bravest of all of them, to face this hope, this challenge, and ask it to be real. "If you have been in this world, this hell, you know all this. How can you say that to us? What gives you the right? Is this why you brought us here? You want us to die for you and your impossible crusade? Is this the payment you will demand for helping us, our servitude? What of our brother, the one who died on the battlefield that day? Why didn't you begin your cause with him?"

There might have been some anger in her at places, or sorrow, but as Yvonne's questions poured out of her, she realized there was really only one question they needed the answer to. Quietly, the whispered query hung in the stillness around the group, everyone sensing the importance of this moment. "What is there to save?"

Xander knew that question could be understood many ways, and maybe it was the two weeks the group had been living together, but he got what they all wanted to know. Reaching out with his left hand while Mortifera was gripped in his right, he ran his fingers through the golden hair of the girl before him. And, right now, she was a girl. Despite their ages, Gareth, Nix, Pollux, Ann Marie, and Yvonne were all children in this moment, begging Daddy to make the monsters go away. Xander wished he could lie to them, but he had sworn he wouldn't. The truth may not have the reassurances that they were looking for, but it would have to do.

"Save? Nothing. There is nothing to save here. There is no hope or last bastion of humanity to fight for. I can't even say we can save ourselves, because we can't. This isn't a fairytale or a country song where the good guys turn back the tide of evil and save the kingdom. As Yvonne pointed out, this is the world: a place where humans are the lowest of the low, food and prey for whatever wanted them. Do you know what it save means? To rescue somebody or something, spare somebody from something, preserve something, redeem someone. All very abstract and pretty sounding, but it won't help you, not here and now."

Stung, and a little bit betrayed, Yvonne knocked Xander's hand away from her. Then, a snarl crossed her face and a fist was thrown. Although he could see it coming, Xander took Yvonne's left hook. He didn't glance at the other, or move to return the hit. He just went right on speaking, as blood dripped from his lip and colored his words. "How do you explain belief to people who'd never had any? There is no room for heroes in this world of decay and devastation. No room and no need. Heroes were made for saving: the fuzzy fluff ball, the damsel in distress, the darkness that dwells within, the world. Here, any fuzzy thing would end up roasted over a pit for dinner; damsels quickly learn to defend themselves or die some pretty horrific deaths; darkness is everywhere, why bother worrying if it like you more than the next dude? And, well, there isn't much left of the world to save."

Still refusing to look away, Xander tried his hardest to make them understand. "Now, this is the important part. I'm going to tell you the secret, the thing that gives me strength. Salvation is for the weak, those who can't live with what they've done. It's not about that. I believe. Not in unicorns or miracles or divine intervention but tangible things. I believe. Believe in bloody vengeance and killing rage. The demons will pay: in flesh, defeat, and death. That is the price I will ask of you, to help me collect the demons owe us. I will not die until my enemies are crushed beneath my blows."

He didn't scream, he didn't yell. Xander spoke to them as if this wasn't one of the most important decisions of their lives, as if the death of thousands didn't depend on their replies. Again, the group was stunned by Xander's words. This time, however, there were no incredulous expressions or questions. He was speaking a language they could understand, and it was their turn. Xander finally moved away from Yvonne, away from all of them.

Like magnets, the five fighters moved in closer to each other, not speaking, just needing to be close. Underneath the occupied gaze of Pollux, the only member of the group who was even slightly aware of anything besides their own thoughts and the others, Xander donned his plated vest, hand guns, four knives, and Mortifera. Gesturing to the others, Pollux pointed to Xander as the fighter made his way to the exit of the base. Not sure if they wanted to call out, no one moved to stop him. As the door sealed behind the man, their almost-comrade, a final sentence struck at the silence. "And, should you choose to pledge yourselves to this, neither will you."

Xander wasn't thinking about anything. Not about his dead friends, his murderer, his life, or the group he left behind. There was no place for such distractions about here. As he stalked the shadows of the now familiar crumbled buildings and scattered bones, his mind was consumed with only one thing: the hunt. It had been too long since he'd been out on his own, searching for demons to prey on. When the others were around Xander tried to be careful to not let them see the ferocity with which he dispatched his foes, the sustenance he gained from it. He didn't have to worry about that now, for better or worse they were being to understand his very own private monster.

'Thud.'

His heart not skipping a beat, Xander continued his walking. Pretending not to hear the muffled sounds that came from the demon that followed him, he used his magic to ask the darkness around him: 'what follows, how many, where does it hide'. The dark did not answer him back. Xander just knew; that's what it meant to be one within the shadow. Crouched behind the broken walls up ahead were imps with blades, in the window ledges above were plague-ridden monkeys that had mutated when the 'gates opened, and to top off the all-star line up, a pair of lizards were trying to herd him into the trap. Xander knew that the monkeys were the biggest threat; although they were easy to kill and had little offensive skills, if one of them touched his skin, he would be infected by a disease that would make the anthrax look like the flu. Even if the infection didn't kill him right off, with out the antidote, he'd just die later in agony. So, the monkeys had to go first, the physical punishment the imps and lizards dealt out could be born for a while. Seeing his window of opportunity closing, Xander acted.

Moving almost as quickly as the demons around him, Xander used a piece of fallen building as a stool to jump through the broken window on the second floor of an office. The force behind his motion allowed his body to roll smoothly into the room. Pivoting on his feet, Xander drew his handgun with barely enough time to aim as the two lizards came through the same window. Two sharp pops echoed, killing one demon and blasting the other's back paw off. Not having the time, Xander had no choice but to leave it alive as he sprinted along the line of the windows.

Hearing the howls of the monkeys as they made for the window entrance, Xander suddenly stopped. And just as abruptly, he brought leg up for a powerful kick, lashing out at the window in front of him. The shattered pieces of glass and the noises they made didn't bother Xander as he thrust his body out the window and onto the tiny ledge outside. With one had he gripped the side of the building, the other was holding a handgun that was already spitting bullets at the monkeys. He had caught them as they were about to get into the office window, line up like four ducks in a row, easy pickings. One clip and those whose gunshots weren't immediately fatal dying as they impacted the ground and the demon-monkeys were toast.

Of course, the three-legged demon that he had been to busy to kill before, took exactly that moment to stick its ugly face out the window. Fortunately, Xander was able to take care of that fairly easily by using his hand to impale the things throat on a piece of glass; problem solved. Unfortunately, the hand he used was the one that was supposed to be anchoring him to the side of the building. He had about one second to celebrate his victory and curse his luck before gravity started to work and took him with it.

The ground seemed to be coming up awfully fast to Xander. It was probably enhanced by the evil of the place, or maybe physic demanded that former white knights hit the ground faster, how the fuck should he know? In an attempt to slow his descent, keep himself alive, or out of a little bit of blind panic, he grabbed the remains of a severed power chord. Which did nothing besides rip the skin on his palms open and arch is trajectory slightly. Out of options and time, Xander instinctively closed his eyes and waited for his second chance to die alone on bloody concrete.

Finally, the moment passed, and Xander hit the ground. That was, oddly enough, softer that he thought the ground would be, and it was kind of squishy too. He might have lain there longer, but the harsh growling forced to try and get up. Surprised that his body immediately got to its feet and was in working order, he almost missed the glint of metal of was coming towards him. Mortifera had no such distractions. She was already in his injured hands, sliding through the air to parry the strike aimed for his chest. Despite, or maybe because of, his blood on the blade, Xander's grip never faltered.

One of the imp demons threw itself out of the darkness at him. Savagely, it rained blow after blow which he blocked. Still slightly disorientated from his fall, Xander's responses were just a little slow, a little off, and it was costing him. Tired and aching, in a risky move, he swung Mortifera in a one-handed arc while he tried for his second handgun. His gambit might have worked, but Xander never got the chance to find out.

The only sound that came from the scene was that of bone breaking and blood dripping.

If you had asked any of them to explain what was going on in their heads or their hearts right now, not one of them could tell you. The aged wisdom Gareth possessed could not untangle the jumble of emotions that coursed in his veins. Ann Marie's intuition had no hints to offer her about the decision she had to make. For Nix, the easy confidence he usually enjoyed was no where to be seen as he considered the situation. Yvonne was unable to detach herself and think logically about the options. And Pollux found that none of the teachings his mentor imparted had prepared him for this.

Each of them was equally unsure of what to do. This wasn't just helping someone out once or twice; this was a commitment, a dedication that would more than likely cost them their lives. Unsurprisingly, for none had any shock left, Yvonne spoke first. "I'm glad Danny's not here for this."

"What?" Ann Marie rounded on the youngest. "How can you say that? He was one of us, our brother! You can't be glad he's dead!"

Gareth grabbed the older woman's arm before a fight could break out. "Although she expressed it poorly, I understand what Yvonne is saying. Danny would have loved something like this. A grand cause to die for, he always wanted some kind of purpose to fight for."

It was Pollux who spoke next. "Which is why I have never cried for his death, Danny wanted his actions to mean something. At the end, he saved us all by staying in the fight to get his tech online. It was more than most can say."

Yvonne took up her position again. "Danny would want to be a hero. He didn't understand that it doesn't work like that. For him, I wish it did, but like Xander reminded us, heroes have no place here. If that fight hadn't killed him, he would have died his first time out."

The silence only lasted for a few minutes this time before it broken by Nix. "All right, I'm no good with this quiet contemplation crap. Do we think Xander's yanking our chains? Or does he genuinely believe the crazy?"

The conversation deteriorated into a flurry of ideas and arguments between people. Questions and concerns flew freely. With wild hand gestures and expressive postures, the group looked more animated than they had in a long time. Only one remained silent, content to wait for the others to reach the same conclusions he had. They were young, after all; you couldn't expect them to see what was right in front of their noses.

Eventually, the decibel level receded back to normal, and the flow of words halted. Realizing that he couldn't remember the last time Gareth had entered the conversation, Pollux spoke to him. "What do you think, Reth?"

Chuckling, Gareth stood and listened as his joints popped. "I been alive a bit longer than most of you, and there is only one thing I know for certain. That nothing is certain. We all used to think demons were a myth. They weren't. We all thought humans would win the battle against them. Humans didn't. We used to think that the worst was behind us, buried with our families and friends. It wasn't."

Nodding, mostly to himself, Gareth continued. "We've all seen horrible things. Things so bad and terrible, there isn't a word to describe it. Nothing's certain in any world. Danny would have wanted to be a hero. Well, I don't, and I'm not. But I'm tired. Tired of demons taking things from me: people, homes, faith. I can't get those back; I had a reason to fight once, a wife and two daughters. They are long dead, though. Xander's got a fire inside of him that even the blind can see. It isn't light or beautiful, but it feels damn good. I've tried to seek kill demons out of revenge before, but it was never enough. I don't just want to kill them, anymore; I want to live and watch them die. An unappeasable vengeance with no end in sight? I can get behind that."

Having said his piece, Gareth once more subsided into silence. Now it was the others turn to voice their decisions. Yvonne and Pollux glanced at each other, their choices plainly written on their faces. Nix and Ann Marie had drawn off to the side and were in talking in touches and hushed tones. Yvonne looked at Pollux. "Do you remember what Xander said before he left? About us not dying either if we pledge ourselves to this? What do you think he meant?"

Pollux didn't pause as he responded. "There are many types of death, little one and just as many types of living. There are as many answers to that question as there demons on this earth. Look to them for the answer you seek."

Leaving Yvonne to stare at his back, Pollux caught his brother's gaze. Smiling, he moved to lean against the wall near Gareth. Their conversation finished, hand-in-hand Nix and Ann Marie joined the two men. Only Yvonne had yet to decide. With the grace they all knew she possessed, the girl turned and began to gather her weapons. Calling to the others over her shoulder, she finished putting on her gear. "Well, I guess we had better go find our crazy leader before he manages to find a new group of converts that won't respond so well, hadn't we?"

Nothing else was said as the group set out to find their sixth member.

Pollux couldn't help but laugh at what he saw. Xander, the demon-hunter, covered in bits of blue skin and ichors trying to spit out the blood that had fallen into his mouth.

They had followed the trail of demon bodies until they found him. In the middle of a fight with an imp, Xander was only able to defend against the demon's attacks as the two fighters fought in the midst of the flattened remnants of another imp demon. Just as Xander began to swing his axe, Ann Marie's favorite shot gun, Betty Lou, was brought up to fire.

'Bang.'

And if that wasn't enough overkill, the javelin Nix threw embedded itself in the imp's chest.

It was a surreal moment, only broken by the sound of Xander trying to hack his lungs up onto the concrete. Quickly moving to Xander's side, Pollux started checking the man over for any serious injuries while the other looked to more demons. There weren't any, serious wounds or demons. Standing upright once more, Xander looked at them. "After this, I'm willing to class us even…"

His statement was interrupted by Gareth. "Don't even think about it, youngster. You wanted us, you got us. Now, you're stuck."

Nods came from every member of the group. Right then and there, in the middle of hell, a brotherhood was formed from battle, blood, and hate. Seeing that everyone had made of their minds, there was only thing for Xander to say. "We will walk as mortals and live as the dead."

!

!

!

!

!

The sight before finally entering his brain, he yelped. "You mean I landed on the demon!" Well, two things.


	8. The Papers from Hell

Chapter 8: The Papers from Hell

Disclaimer: Joss and the HG: London people own it and all rights associated with said ownership.

AN: When you first enter the game, all of your missions lead you further along one line of the London Underground. I found a map of the Underground online, I noticed that all of the early stations are located on the Piccadilly line. So, I picked somewhere along there to drop Xander off. I still don't know anything about the actually city of London beyond what I could Google, so I apologize if there are any major errors or problems with the area I chose. Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoy this portion of Highway to Hell.

If Xander thought getting his group to believe him was the hard part, he was sadly mistaken. If he had known exactly how much work this was going to be, he might have… might have…. Well, he didn't know what he might have done, but in the three months Xander had been in this world, one when he was alone and two with his present company, he had come to understand nothing was easy. So, he hadn't been mistaken in the first place and therefore didn't know what he would have done if he had been.

With that sound logic, Xander returned his attention to the task he was supposed to be working on. He was looking through the rough blueprints the patrol teams had drawn of various building, homes, and tunnel systems in the area. Even if he hadn't known it at the time, Xander had appeared in the Drayton Park neighborhood in London. It had been a business district mostly, before the demons came. There were some residential areas, but only a few. As much as it seemed like a good idea of cover ground by widening the radius of the cleared circle they lived inside, it wasn't too practical in application. It was too hard to keep an eye on 360 degrees of attack front with only six people. So, Ann Marie had suggested they use the Underground tunnels and narrow alleys between buildings to navigate our way around. For this to work, the teams had to create maps as they went on to mark which places were cleared and which weren't. Fighting demons in close quarters was risky, but it limited the amount of enemies that could attack them at once. Besides, if things got too desperate, all you had to do was throw a grenade, run like hell away in the opposite direction, and wait for the building to collapse on top of the demons.

Gareth was the reason he was looking through the blueprints. The ex-military man had pointed out that if they were going to seriously wage some type of guerilla warfare on the demons, a bigger base was necessary. They would need places to train, to experiment, to sleep, and more. Ann Marie had wanted an infirmary/recovery area a healer to use, when they got one. The camp Xander had set up was good enough for two or three people, but not six. Living in a cramped storeroom that only had one closet and a few dark corners for privacy with six people? Not as fun as it sounds, and it didn't sound that fun to begin with, hence, the searching that he was supposed to be doing.

So far, four buildings had looked promising in size but were uninhabitable. Some were too structurally unsound, and the others had housed demons for too long. When demons had occupied a space for any extended amount of time, an imprint was left behind; it made it very difficult for the more sensitive of the group, like Xander, Pollux, and Yvonne to sleep. The three of them were able to discern the truth of a place or situation from various sources. Xander used the shadows to seek out hidden things, Pollux called shades of battles from the past, and Yvonne was able to see history in reflective surfaces, like glass, mirrors, water. None of them used their gifts often, but it left them hyperaware of the taint demons left behind.

Last week had been Nix's turn to do this job, this week it was his. Xander blinked his eyes rapidly to ease the dry feeling in them. Once again looking at the paper in front of him, he wondered if they would ever find something that would meet everyone's standards. Vaguely, he considered if sleeping in one of the demon haunted buildings would be so bad. By the shudder that rippled across his frame, he guessed it would. Xander blinked, and blinked again, glancing from the new list of possible locations to the map. As he glared at the blueprints, he wondered when everyone had caught the stupid bug. Snorting to himself, Xander barked out. "Gareth!"

Waiting rather patiently for a soon to be eighteen-year-old, Xander stretched his muscles as the older man walked over. When he was standing behind the young man, Gareth asked. "You find something?"

Xander paused to consider the response he would get, and then went ahead. "Why are we searching for this base here?"

Gareth looked at Xander like he wanted to knock some sense into the boy's head. "We've been over this. You even agreed. This place is too…"

Interrupting Gareth and gaining the attention of Yvonne and Nix, who were making a potion and cleaning weapons, respectively, Xander asked again. "No. Why are we looking for this base above the surface? It would be easy for a mass of demons to trap us inside one until we died from fighting or starvation. Why does it have to be above ground?"

For a few moments, no one spoke as they considered the idea. It was during this time Ann Marie and Pollux came in the entrance, returning from patrol. Neither was hurt, and Ann Marie held a roll of paper in her clenched hand. In that cheerfully annoying way of hers she called out to her friends while shoving the handful at Xander. "Here you go, little boy. Just what you always wanted for Christmas, even more boring pictures to stare at for days on end, aren't I the best little helper ever?"

Not expecting a reply, she glided into another part of the camp to get out of her armor. Nix glanced around the room and followed, wanting some private time with his girl. Shaking his head, Pollux moved over to Yvonne and asked what was going on. Before she could answer, Gareth called out. "Xander was just pointing out how tired we all must be to have missed the obvious solution to our problem."

"The obvious solution?" Pollux asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Underground stations."

That short statement cleared up the sword-wielding twin's confusion. He looked at Xander and saw the man didn't understand the reference. Sometimes they forgot that Xander hadn't been with the group for all that long and that he couldn't yet understand the shorthand code they used sometimes. "Gareth means, the stations that the underground subway used to stop at. It would be fairly easy to clear demons out of there, barricade the entrances above ground and guard the tunnels. We would also be able to move between different parts of the city."

Seeing the understanding dawn, Gareth gently moved Xander away from the table all the blueprints were spread out on. "You go and do… whatever. I'm going to look over all our maps and think about what we need to do from here."

Xander was tempted to protest that it was his turn to do that, but he didn't know what to look for or any substantial geography of London, so he let it go with a grateful smile. Turning to Pollux, he asked the older man if he needed any help getting his armor off. Upon gaining a positive response, the two men wandered into darkened niche they usually slept in. Xander didn't know when or how it happened, but at some point over the last month, he and Pollux had started sleeping together. Platonically at first, as the only two members of the group not paired off, Ann Marie and Nix having been lovers for several years and Yvonne and Gareth finding a little bit of solace in each others arms after Danny had died.

But one day after a difficult patrol, that had changed. Xander was helping to patch up some of Pollux's wounds and realized the man was watching him with a familiar glint in his eyes. Finishing his ministrations, Xander rose from his kneeled position to look at the face above him. They stood like that for several minutes, just staring. Then Pollux reached for his hand, and Xander let him take it. Drawing him over to their bed, with only the thinnest of sheets to hide their activities, Pollux and Xander had sex.

In the dark after they were done, Xander drifted off to sleep, sated and relaxed. It never crossed his mind what his reaction would have been back in Sunnyhell if someone had told him that he would be sleeping with another guy. He never wondered what his old friends and family might have said, what it might mean, or if it was wrong. He wasn't embarrassed that the others heard and probably saw what they were doing. He didn't even consider that this was his first time; it might have hurt, but compared to what he'd seen and suffered since he'd come to this world, whatever pain, if there was any, didn't even begin to register. It wasn't about love, happiness, or even desire. All that mattered was that he had someone to told on to, someone who was here and was surviving just like he was. Xander didn't spare a minute for any of that. There was sleep to be had, after all. And tomorrow, they would all get up, luckily or not, and do it all over again.

Back in the present moment, Xander and Pollux spent the next hour celebrating their victory over the demon map.

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After everyone had finished celebrating and cleaned up the post-coital remains, the six members gathered to discuss their options. Gareth briefly explained Xander's idea and his own suggestions before showing them the possible locations he had found. "There are three stations are within the areas we've done sweeps in. Caledonian Road is the closest, where we wiped out that nest of incorporeal wraiths. After that is Holloway Road but I can't remember if the entrance was destroyed during one of the battles. Arsenal is the furthest out, and probably our best bet. If we can't get in Holloway, the demons can't either, so anyone coming from that side will have to travel from a station even farther down the line."

The group absorbed what Gareth was telling them. Nix spoke up. "So what kind of plan are we looking at here, a hurried move or a few more weeks of scouting?"

Before Gareth could respond to Nix's question, Yvonne turned to Pollux and Xander. "Have either of you noticed anything strange lately?"

Exchanging glances, it was Xander who replied. "Stranger than magic, demons, and hell on earth? You're talking about the presence aren't you?"

The other three members had no clue what Xander and Yvonne were talking about. Yvonne brought her attention back to the present. "You know that each of us is more in tune with our surrounding than most people. There has been something gliding along the outside of my senses. It occurred to me that the boys might be picking up signals as well. Lately, I, at least, have been getting glimpses of groups of demons working to together and heading towards the same destination. I have never seen where they are going, but based on Xander and Pollux's reactions, I can guess."

Pollux went next. "The last two times I have been out for patrol, I have seen shades of dead demons out of the corner of my eyes. It wasn't until today's sweep that I got anything more solid. There were at least four different classes of dead demons that I called out."

Xander frowned as he explained his part to the group. "I have sensed one or two demons watching us from the shadows but not attacking. I had thought they were getting more cautious, not wanting to fight unless they had numbers on their side."

Cursing and rubbing his forehead, Gareth addressed the three. "Next time any of you get so much as a tingle, you tell us about it! Warning like that could mean the difference between dead and really, really, really fucking dead. You got me?"

Emotionlessly the three nodded. The problem with gifts like theirs was that a lot of it had to do with perception and interpretation. Each of them got plenty of false alarms or mixed up reading because of the influence the Hellgates radiated. Discerning which was relevant to a particular situation was like trying to cut down an oak tree using a pen knife, theoretically possible but not worth the effort in practice. Plus, they were all involved in an immediate battle for survival, distractions like that could get them killed.

Sighing, Gareth stalked over and touched Yvonne's arm. "How much time do we have before they try and attack us here?"

"Week and a half, tops," Came the swift reply.

"Well, I guess that answers my question." Nix sardonically interjected, not wanting anyone point fingers.

"We'll need a two prong plan, if we want to make it through this." Gareth stated as he thought about the problem. Instead of panicking, everyone was trying to figure out how to get through this.

Speaking up for the first time since the conversation began; Ann Marie said what they were all thinking. "It better be a damn good plan."


	9. Hell Starts Here

Chapter 9: Hell Starts Here

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it.

AN: I want to thank everyone for being so patient for this chapter. Like everyone else, I got consumed by the demands of the holidays, sorry. Also, a big thank you to whoever nominated any of my stories for the Crossing Over Awards. I can honestly say that I never expected anyone to consider my stories good enough. Once again, thank you and I hope you like this chapter; it is the beginning of a battle that should last at least another chapter or two. Please review and tell me what you think! I need at least one review before I'll post the next chapter, sorry guys. Even if the review is just one word, that's enough to let me know people are reading the entire story and my efforts aren't wasted!

You couldn't grasp what it was like to stand on the top of a building and just… look. There were no lights, no noises. As far as the red sky would let you see there was nothing. Only falling towers and withering homes, small fires breaking out occasionally. Us or them, you couldn't help wonder. But the bitterest part of the landscape before you is that you remember what it had been. Maybe you had never actually seen London, but the gleaming windows and metallic high-rises, a crowning achievement of architecture, could be found in any major city. So when all you could see were receding monuments and cold fires, you knew. Knew how far the mighty empire of man had sunk, knew that the bodies of million lay forgotten under the ruins – the base on which the demons made their kingdom; the truth was unavoidable. Humanity was dying, a slow and lingering death, helpless against the decay that plundered the world. It wasn't the waste and desolation that caused such agony, no. Watching the last vestiges of life fade away, doomed to observe and unable to even touch the scales, was the torment of those who lived in the ashes.

It rained sometimes. Just when he began to think there was nothing that could make the place seem worse, the rain came, bleak and cruel. Years ago, rain was considered a sign of favor, a gift from the gods. Now, it was a curse. There was no life to coax from the ground, no torrent strong enough to wash away the blood. The only thing the rain brought was limited visibility and slippery footwork. Although, if one were inclined to believe in such things, which Xander really wasn't; it might the forbearance of some prophecy. There was nothing prophecy would tell him that he didn't already know. What would it say; there was a wealth of possibilities waiting in the future? That the world was going to fucking end?

Xander watched as rain covered the world. Not even this unexpected guest would deter him this night. He arbitrarily decided that it was night, as there wasn't a way to tell the difference between pitch black or brightest light; it was all the same red color of rusted blood. There was much to be done, if any of them wanted to be alive when morning came. Xander didn't spare a thought for the other group as his own moved out.

The dawn that never came would tell who lived.

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Hours Ago – Preparation:

The black, metal-plated vest had been set aside in favor of bone armor. It was a patchwork affair, much like his first, comprised of bone shards from demons he had killed. Mortifera had suggested it actually, by way of a weird dream where Xander killed the Judge by holding a horned skull between his palms; the skull had absorbed the blue death-lightning and from the fanged mouth emerged a darkly lit green bolt of energy that consumed the demon's form. He wasn't Druscilla, or even Willow, to get the reference until the next day when he saw the corpse. It was one of the humanoid demons that they had killed on patrol. Yvonne had tested a new potion on it, on that ate away the flesh and muscles of the thing, enabling the spine to be seen through the hole that had been the demon's stomach. Like humans, their spines were composed of discs. Theirs, however, that were much more numerous, completely flat, no imperfections at all, and held together by ligament instead of bone. This accounted for the flexibility the demons displayed when leaping over obstacles and climbing sides of buildings. Harvesting the bones was dirty work often requiring two or three visits to collect all the pieces. Cutting through demon flesh was tough, put possible; bone was another matter entirely, Mortifera begin the only bladed weapon among their arsenal that could. Xander had secured the discs by heating sheets of metal and melding the bones to the surface. These sheets were shaped into a chest plate, wrist and shoulder guards, and covers for his shins. Overall the armor was surprisingly light, the bone bits were highly durable for having so little mass, and the metal was a new invention from the 2010's, the weight not bothering him at all.

It had taken him most of the week to put the final touches on his new battle armor, but Xander wasn't the only one who was pushing their gear into upgrades. Everyone was adding extra protections and defenses to their armaments, using everything from metal to magic and blessing to blood to get the job done. Blades were sharpened and cleaned, guns were dismantled and oiled, and any miscellaneous pieces of technology were broken down, reassembled, and debugged within an inch of their lives. No one wanted to see what would happen if one of their weapons were to suddenly crap out in the middle of what was coming.

The plans were made. The teams were set. Everyone knew their parts in the upcoming venture. They had gone over the options and tactics time and again, in an effort to cover all the bases, and before anyone could digest the new circumstances, it was time.

Like automations of tin and not flesh, as one they stood. Facing each other and yet not looking too closely into the others' countenances. Here they were: six humans, fragile in body yet mighty in spirit, with nothing but anger and determination to guide them through the night. Every one of them carrying more weaponry than a whole division of armed forces, they were war and will made real.

Nothing was said as four of their group turned and left the room, leaving uncertain past behind and entering the tempest that was the future. No soft words passed between bedmates, no encouragements were spoken between comrades. There was not a damn thing that could make this situation better. All would do what they must and the ground and sky would become as one. Blood above, blood below.

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With his red axe, four handguns with five clips each, eight knives, a dozen throwing stars, and one assault rifle complete with night vision, Xander was something out of Rambo's deadliest fantasies, resplendent in his grey and black armor. Smearing his face with a paste made from demon blood and dirt, he was invisible in the darkness, indistinguishable by sight or smell. An offering to wretched gods, meat for the beat, Xander was in this element as he waited for perfect moment to revel himself.

Gareth had gone ahead, he knew. The older man had his own role to play. For now, Xander was standing on a rooftop overlooking their camp, doing nothing has the group of four faded into the rain. In his head, Xander counted. 'One dead demon, two dead demons, three dead demons…'

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The explosion could still be heard, even with the torrents of water currently beating the earth. It caused the ground beneath them to tremble at the force. Still, none of them looked back. Resolute and furious, not one of the four turned around for fear of what they'd see. Instead, their eyes scanned the watery red landscape, alert for any attackers hidden in the ruin.

For better or worse, the group reached their destination without encountering any demons. Better because the humans could save their strength for what was in front of them; worse because there was a good chance their enemies were wanting for them somewhere ahead. No one paused as they entered the Underground station at Arsenal. Then, there was nothing to see as Nix, Yvonne, Ann Marie, and Pollux were swallowed by the darkness within.

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It took a lot of effort on Xander's part not to laugh as dozens of demons screamed and died below him. Some died instantly from the concussion, others were incinerated where they stood, and still more were slowing bleeding to death from being impaled by shrapnel. It did a body good to see his foes decimated while he watched. But now was not the time for laughter, he had work to do.

While the blast had killed off many of the demons, there were a lot left. Too many for one man, even one like Xander to kill them all, which didn't stop him from raising his rifle and popping the head of one of the blue imps in the crowd. Anyone else would have thought twice before antagonizing over a hundred demons, but he was beyond such petty concerns. The horde turned its head in creepy synchronicity to peer into his hiding place. Then, in a chorus of growls and roars, they charged.

Not panicking, Xander kept reloading and firing, dropping over fifteen demons before he was forced to run. The first wave had reached his building, and the demons were using their claws to scale the side. Xander decided that he didn't want to be here when they reached the top and broke into a sprint to get to the other side of the roof. With one last glance back at the demons chasing him, he jumped.

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There was nothing but the dark. Nothing could be seen through the black cloud that obliterated their vision. Water flowed down the steps as they descended into the space below. Even though visibility was nil, everyone kept their weapons up and at the ready. Knowing that something was out there, even though she couldn't see it, Yvonne removed a sphere from her pack and activated it.

A bright orange glow shone from the sphere, illuminating their surroundings, which turned out to be a good thing, as eight zombies and four red lizards converged on the group. With the skill born of a lifetime of practice, Nix swung his spear in an arc, the blade at the end severing two of the zombies' heads. Nearby, Pollux was just as busy, holding his sword and taking out three more zombies. In Ann Marie's hands, an enlarged hand gun was emitting bursts of purple energy that felled the lizards. Yvonne stood to the back, seeing the others had things well at hand.

No more than three minutes passed and the eleven demons were dead. No one was wounded or breathing hard, just a little tense that it had been so easy. Each member turned their gazes towards the area around them, wanting to make sure there were no more hiding in dark corners. Behind them where the stairs they had come down, which opened into a wide hallway that went both left and right. Down each branch, a barricade had been erected, making it impossible to see what was beyond them.

When nothing immediately tried to attach them again, the group took a moment to secure the doors. The entrance to the station was equipped with emergency doors that were bolted to the cement walls unless someone gave the override command. Any demons that were down here either didn't care or didn't know how to close them. Knowing what a bad idea it would be to leave their back unprotected, Yvonne and Nix worked quickly, ripping open a panel on the wall and hot-wiring the doors shut.

With only the orange glow ball as their light, everyone grabbed their weapons and made stood in the hallway. Each one could hear noises from over the barricades, the clicking of nails against the floor, the harsh breaths of air squeezing between fangs. This mattered not; forward was their only option. Splitting into two groups, Nix and Yvonne went to the left, Pollux and Ann Marie to the right. Into the breach, they traveled.

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Gareth remained as still as possible as he waited for a group of demons to pass him by. When Xander had put his ability, spell, whatever it was on him, Gareth hadn't really believed it would do that much. Boy was he glad he'd been wrong; it had already saved his life twice when he'd encountered some demons. He couldn't fight them, couldn't risk them finding out that he was hiding out here, running from shadow to shadow laying his webs. When the demons moved out of sight, Gareth stood up from behind the crumbled wall he'd been using for cover.

As more time passed, he found it easier to navigate the streets of London. There were fewer lone demons crawling around; all of them had followed the sounds of the explosion earlier to find its source. Which made Gareth's work go much faster, entering select buildings with heavy bundles on his back and leaving bare handed; he had stashed what he needed at various locations on his route. Vaguely, he spared a thought as to how Xander was doing before turning his mind to task in front of him. Focused only on his mission, Gareth once again used the shadows to obscure his journey.


	10. The Blackest Plains in Hell's Domain

Chapter 10 – The Blackest Plains in Hell's Domain:

Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it again? Not mine, never was, never will be.

AN1: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, but I kept writing and rewriting the battle scenes. Finally, I'm happy with it and so….. here it is.

AN2: Special thanks to Lady for her review and the maps of the Underground she gave me. They helped me get a clear image of what is going on. So, 'Thank You'. Any mistakes you see are totally mine.

What was he expecting? That the demons would be stupid enough to run face first into a brick wall and crack their skulls open? As sweat and nastier things ran down his neck, Xander allowed the sarcastic remark to gain substance for a moment before throwing it as hard as he could into the recesses of his mind; it would really embarrassing if his internal punning caused him to lose focus and die. How would he explain that to anyone? '_Well, I was being chased like a rabbit by a bunch of demons on steroids and I realized how funny the situation was… Um…I guess you had to be there to get the humor.'_ That! That was exactly what needed to stop happening! '_Focus, brain, focus.'_

Daring to stop, Xander released all the air from his lungs and tried desperately to slow the pounding of his heart. His armor was covered in vile fluids that didn't bare thinking about; his rifle was dry, three of the hand guns were lost in his mad flight, most of the knives were still with him, the throwing stars were almost gone, and Mortifera was still strapped to his back. She had yet to clear her sheath; most of the fighting so far had been at a distance. That wouldn't be true for long, he was running low on projectiles and the demons were getting closer, the noose around his neck growing tighter.

After provoking the mass of demons, Xander had left the building, winding his way down to the ground floor. He had made it out the doorway and into the street with relative ease. The demons behind him weren't so lucky. Loud screeches and howls emanated from the structure, their hard flesh being shredded by razor wire and falling through floorboards into pits of sharpened spikes. A thrill of joy driving him forward, Xander darted immediately for the alley across the street, hoping to confuse his pursuers, the ones that were still alive at least. But before he could even enjoy the moment, whispers started filling the shadows, telling him of another cluster of demons that were merely a block or two to the south.

As the cries from the demons faded away, a new sound took its place.

"Well, fuck."

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This was not what they'd been expecting. Upon entering the tunnels below the surface, the huge battle they envisioned never occurred. A few stabs, some bullets, and game over, that was it. After everything, was this all there was to victory?

'_Apparently not_,' Nix thought as his spear caught the throat of yet another diseased monkey, '_what's that now, eleven or twelve, I can't remember'_. It didn't take much to put them down; they were extremely stupid, relying on large numbers to win. Beside him, her blond hair coiled in a firm braid, Yvonne hurled vials into their midst, silent as the rising vapors turned the demons' toxicity against them and their bodies collapsed under the weight of bleeding lesions. It wasn't pretty, but damn if it wasn't effective in a three meter radius.

So far, after Yvonne and he had split from Pollux and Ann Marie, the two of them had only fought lone demons when they came across some. The hallways of the Underground station were dirty and covered in the residue of past battles: blood, bullets, and burns. It was clear that they were not the first group to come this way, and in the morbid part of his head Nix wondered what fate that claimed those that had come before. Nothing good, if the occasional distinctly human remains they happened across were to be believed.

This had been the largest group the two had seen yet. What had once been a formidable group of several imps, an energy-stealing specter, zombies, and plague monkeys was whittled down to just the scavengers. From their position next to each other, it was a simple thing to finish off the remaining diseased mammals.

In the calm that followed, Yvonne quickly patched up his wounds while he returned the favor. Neither required any serious first aid but they didn't want the smell of fresh blood to attract and alert the demons before they had a chance to kill them. While impatiently waiting for the blond to finish her task, a shuffling noise drew his attention to corner that lay in front of them at the end of the hall.

Jerking out of Yvonne's hands, Nix brought one of his guns up and moved along the side of the hall, eyes open for any further motion. The noise ceased as he crept closer. Coming up on to the junction, a body slammed into the floor before him. As Nix rounded the corner, he fired.

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Gareth knew his part was nearing its end. There was nothing left to do. All the pieces were in place, all the knots were tied, and only one option remained open to him. Wait. Here in the darkened shade of dead trees and broken childhood dreams, everything would be won or lost. All he had to do was wait. Wait for a morning that would never come, a deliverance that he would never see. Wait for the terror and the exhaustion to pull him under. Wait. Wait for the demons. Wait for the battle. Wait for Xander.

Wait for the end.

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Right at the same moment that Gareth was prophesizing their doom, Pollux was cursing. He was surrounded by monsters, each one a different breed, all of them wanting their bit of flesh. His sword swung through limbs and necks as they were offered but they kept coming. The injuries they incurred did nothing to alter their determination to rind him into titty-bitty pieces, probably while he was still alive. '_That would really suck.'_

At first, Ann Marie and he had no problems, killing the few packs of demons they met. Eventually, the groups had gotten larger and larger until he was separated from his brother's girl. Then, each of them was on their own. Unfortunately, as more demons poured in, the distance between him and Ann Marie grew until he couldn't see her anymore. The only reason Pollux knew she was still alive was because he wasn't fighting in complete darkness. As Ann Marie moved further away, so did the green light that she activated after Nix and Yvonne had taken the other with them. If she died, the light would go with her and leave Pollux alone in the dark with the monsters. '_You'd better not die on me!'_

So, standing there in the catacomb of halls, with hampered vision and enemies pressing on all sides, Pollux was not overwhelmingly surprised when one got through his guard and sent him sailing towards the other side of his circle of demons. What was a surprise was that, instead of landing on the demons, the force of the hit bowled them over and he kissed the bare concrete a few feet away.

Thankful for the opportunity, Pollux grabbed the sword that had made the journey with him and one of his guns. It was the sharp sound of a bullet that brought his plans to a halt.

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If Xander thought his days of fleeing from danger in Sunnydale and his sequential banishment to a place where running for your life was an hourly occurrence had prepared him for this particular journey, the boy was dead wrong. Well, he wasn't dead yet but all the signs clearly indicated that he'd be exiting the mortal coil in very short order. Good thing the fighter in question sucked at probabilities and didn't know exactly what 'the mortal coil' was.

He had traversed the roofs and floors of a half dozen buildings, leading his pursuers into steadily more and more devastating traps painstaking set up earlier by Gareth. Of those six buildings, only two were still standing. He'd have to talk with the old man about that; they couldn't let the demons think they would all get off that easy. The remaining buildings were a testament to human ingenuity; maybe someday they would be turned into a museum for the tourists from hell. Look kiddies, see how clever the monkeys can be? In a final attempt to save their worthless hides, the humans had created a nifty maze riddled with deadly tricks like impalement, flamethrowers, and acid baths.

Seeing a twisted sign pointing to his destination, Xander willed his legs to go just a little faster. Dead end, the rusted letters spelled out for him. Nearly flying past his marker, his free hand reached out and activated the last present Gareth had rigged for him. With the roar of fire and whistling shrapnel in his ears, Xander headed for the abandoned playground where the older man waited for him. Together they would face the coming hordes. And then the fun would really begin.

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If you had asked Pollux what he loved most about his brother at this moment the sword-wielding twin would have said his anger management issues. Sure, it had gotten them into more fucking trouble than he could count sometimes, but watching his reflection open fire on the group of demons that had happily been kicking his ass twenty seconds ago was doing wonders to change that attitude. That the woman Nix cared about was on the other side of the crowd also seemed to be driving the man onward with a vengeance.

As the blonde that had accompanied his brother moved forward and helped him up, Pollux couldn't help but envy the cathartic release his twin got from pummeling his enemies. Sure, Pollux loved a good brawl but Nix was a simple enough man that bloodshed and violence soothed him to his core. Glancing at the woman helping him, he shot her a quick smile.

"So, ready to go have some fun?"

"Ecstatic."

The dry tone was nearly lost in the growing clamor of battle.

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Men. Why in the hell had god created men, Ann Marie wondered to herself was she caught Pollux's brief impression of a bird as he flew over the heads of several demons. He was just like his brother, always getting banged up and thrown around, then proceeding to stand up again and repeat the process. That adequately described Gareth and Xander too; nutters the lot of them were. And who did they think was going to be patching them up later? Her, that's who; she would have to take the time and sew, staple, and glue the men back together. Maybe if she threatened to make them into Siamese twins next time they got hurt, they'd be more careful. And then the squid demons in the sky would turn into rainbows and candy canes would fall from the heavens.

Snorting, Ann Marie brought her big jump up to stomach level and let it rip. Her blessed ammo ripped threw the demons around her much more effectively than her ole shotgun; she hadn't wanted to accidentally hit Pollux with a discharge so she hadn't used the semi-automatic sooner. Now that he was out of the way, she was free to do what she did best: pull a trigger and blow shit all to hell. There was no sound quite like the wails of monsters as bullets shredded them to shit.

Demons fell. By twos and threes and in great clumps, demons fell to the floor. Some were twitching spastically in their final death throws and others were dead before the bullets exited their flesh. At some point Nix had met up with his lady love and together the machine gun wielding duo cut down their enemies with gleeful efficiency. Ann Marie couldn't help but smile as she watched her man yell challengingly at the few remaining monsters; several clips had diminished the mass to a scant half dozen. Nix's sword cleared its sheath as he dove headlong into the clamor; five minutes later, the demons were history and the pair were locked in a more intimate duel.

A wail of despair that was shockingly brief brought Ann Marie out of her lustful stupor. Twirling around to search for the source of the noise, she saw Pollux's spear pinning a lizard beat to the wall. Yvonne had one hand over her face to stifle what sounded like laughter. With a manly grunt of effort and a flex of tricep, the wet splat of a body hitting bloodstained ground was heard.

"So, next time you try to suck my brother's tonsils out, do you think you could make sure all the demons are dead first?"

A tilted eyebrow accompanied the honeyed statement. If she had been that kind of woman, Ann Marie might have blushed. Instead she did the adult thing: turned and pointed at Nix.

"He started it!"

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Xander was done. Finished. There was no way they were gonna accomplish it. Demons he could handle. Bloody battles he had no hope in the Hellmouth of winning were cake walks. But it was this moment that made his stomach turn and his vision waiver in and out of focus.

"Gareth!"

A slightly whiney tone reverberated the war-harden man's tone. He stood covered in bandages and his right arm was splinted to his chest; Xander moved to hover over Gareth's bed. The older man looked much worse, his head wrapped in gauze and missing his left leg from the knee down. Not even temporarily loosing his sight or permanently loosing his leg could keep Gareth from laughing at the pathetic boy. Xander and he had survived their suicidal plan to confront the remainder of the demon forces searching for them. Despite their best efforts to get themselves killed by playing bait and facing the demons with only the two of them, they were still alive. Banged up but alive, thanks to their friends having finished clearing out the underground station with less difficulty than expected and coming to save their asses. Still, they had triumphed and had the clean up to prove it.

"But I can't help scrub away the demon goo and blood. I'm hurt." Frantically waving his damaged arm like a deranged chicken, Xander tried to weasel…er… respectfully bow out of the work.

A bang, muffled curses and several cries of 'Xander' spoken with varying degrees of menace sufficiently answered his plea. Shoulders dropping, he walked to the door.

The last thing Gareth heard as the noises Xander was making faded away was, "You'd think coming up with and executing a brilliant plan to ensure we had to survive would get a man a day off."


End file.
